Back to the Table of Contents Page

Back to the Weekly Home Page

Classifieds

Palo Alto Online

Higher education

by Robyn Isreal

Lilia Osterloh got reacquainted with her old stomping grounds this week, jogging around the Stanford University campus and spending time with longtime friends in Los Altos Hills.

In her spare time, the former Stanford All-American also managed to score a couple victories at the $565,000 Bank of the West Classic tennis tournament, advancing to today's quarterfinal match against fourth-seeded Monica Seles at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

Osterloh is the only former Stanford player remaining in the draw after first-round losses by Anne Kremer, Marissa Irvin and Laura Granville. The 23-year-old right-hander might have a slight advantage over the others, though - she's has been on the women's tour the longest, having turned pro in 1997 after her freshman year after winning both the NCAA singles and team titles.

Life as a professional tennis player, she has discovered, is far different from the college experience. For 40 weeks of the year, she is on the road, playing tournaments all over the world. Certainly, it's another level of higher education.

"It's a very individual sport. There's no more team aspect, no [on-court] coaching. It's a weekly grind, week in, week out. You're traveling from city to city, living out of a suitcase," Osterloh said.

Osterloh's worst experience, she said, came in 1998, when she lost to Martina Hingis in the first round of the Australian Open. The match was a rude awakening for the Ohio native, who was ranked around No. 100 at the time.

"I think that was a big step for me, to see where I ranked against the No. 1 player in the world," Osterloh said. "That was a good gauge for me. I learned a lot from that match."

The loss taught her the importance of both mental toughness and physical fitness - elements of her game she has tried to work on ever since. Currently ranked No. 56 in the world, Osterloh enjoyed a career-high ranking of No. 43 last November.

Her best experience, she said, came at last year's U.S. Open, where she reached the round of 16 and found herself two points from the quarterfinals before losing to eventual semifinalist Elena Dementieva. Another noteworthy victory came against Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, whom she beat in the second round at this year's Wimbledon.

But cracking the world's Top 10 remains an elusive goal for players like Osterloh, Kremer, Irvin and Granville. The last Stanford woman to scale that peak was Kathy Jordan in 1984, who enjoyed a No. 5 world ranking.

"The Top 10 is really rarefied air," said former Stanford women's tennis coach Frank Brennan. "The real goal (for the Stanford players) is the Top 20."

Meredith McGrath achieved that status in 1996, reaching No. 19. Other Stanford women who hit the Top 20 were Patty Fendick in 1989 (No. 19); Alycia Moulton in 1984 (No. 18); and Kate Gompert in 1987 (No. 20).

"That ranking doesn't get you recognition, but it does get you a little respect," Brennan said. "It means you're making a lot of money and your seed is higher for the next tournament."

During his 21 years at Stanford, Brennan coached Osterloh, Kremer, Irvin and Granville.

"I think their games are quite solid," Brennan said of the four products. "It just takes a lot of luck, good health and a lot of determination. You just have to stick it out."

Kremer, 25, left Stanford after her sophomore year, turning pro in 1998. A native of Luxembourg, she represented her country at both the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games, and hopes to play again at the 2004 Games in Athens. Currently ranked No. 32 in the world, she was ranked as high as No. 27 in early 2000.

"The first year definitely was hard," Kremer said of her initial season as a pro. "You don't know your way around the facilities and you worry about getting into tournaments. I remember driving to some tournament in Europe and not getting in. That's not good."

After 21/2 years on tour, Kremer has settled in to the rigors and demands of professional tennis.

"It's a different lifestyle," Kremer said. "You wake up in the morning. You eat. You practice. You eat. You practice again......It takes a while to get adjusted to it full time.

"Everybody thinks it's great to travel all the time and play tennis . . . it's not that glamorous. It's a hard job, that's for sure. Every match in these tournaments are so tough. There are no easy matches."

The 21-year-old Irvin knows that all too well. She has the biggest serve of the four former Stanford players, but is still struggling to find her rhythm on tour. Last year, she started out ranked No. 77 in the world, but an ankle injury in the Bank of the West Classic sidelined her for five weeks. She came back in time for the U.S. Open, where she made it to the second round. Earlier this month, Irvin won a $50,000 USTA Challenger tournament in Los Gatos, a big step for her.

The toughest adjustment to being a pro?

"It's difficult when tennis becomes a job," said Irvin, who left Stanford last year after her sophomore season. "I always had school and my friends, and all the social aspects that go with it. It becomes different when it's your job."

That lesson is being learned these days by Granville, the youngest and least experienced of the four Stanford players on tour. A college star, she won back-to-back NCAA titles at Stanford in 2000 and 2001 and turned pro this spring after her sophomore year. But life as a professional, she has learned, is a totally different game.

"There's definitely a difference ," Granville said. "The pro players hit the ball harder and are in better shape."

The Bank of the West Classic is Granville's third professional event, and she admitted she felt somewhat intimidated this week on the courts she once ruled. Still, she knows what needs to be done in order to improve and take her game to a higher level.

"It's a level that's not unreachable," Granville said. "I've just got to get in better shape and be more consistent . . . I just need to play in some lesser tournaments and get some wins and gain some confidence."

Come autumn, the reality that Granville is now a professional player will firmly set in, she said.

"It will be hard for me in the fall when school gets backing session," she said. "This is still summer for me."

Just think of it as summer school.